China’s C919 jet has officially left home soil for the first time, taking its first scheduled international passenger flight from Beijing to Mongolia.<\/p>\n
The milestone marks a major step for China’s<\/a> homegrown answer to Boeing and Airbus, although the jet still has plenty to prove before it can seriously challenge the aviation giants overseas.<\/p>\n According to flight tracker<\/a> FlightRadar24 the flight, operated by Air China, took off from Beijing Capital International Airport and touched down around two hours later in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.<\/p>\n The flight is the latest step in China’s plan to establish the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, aka COMAC.<\/p>\n It hopes it will act as a direct competitor in a global field currently dominated by United States-based Boeing and Europe’s Airbus.<\/p>\n Currently, though, the C919 still uses foreign components and it has also not been able to secure certification from major aviation regulators in Europe<\/a> or the US, meaning it’s very limited in its ability to win over customers.<\/p>\n COMAC had initially aimed to have its jets entirely made in China by 2025 and to capture 10% of the country’s domestic market, but those goals have since passed.<\/p>\n The airline hopes the Beijing to Ulaanbaatar service will eventually operate daily and has been showing off its planes to the industry, most notably at the Dubai Airshow last November.<\/p>\n Are COMAC’s offerings realistic challengers to existing jets?<\/p>\n The C919 can carry up to 174 passengers and is a similar single-aisle narrow-body set up to Boeing’s 737 MAX and Airbus’s A320neo.<\/p>\n As of now, China’s domestic airlines still rely on Boeing and Airbus aircraft and, in May, the nation ordered 200 of the former’s planes, as well as spare parts and engines, so it’s clear that there’s a need for western technology as COMAC gears up to fly.<\/p>\n